


Stories

by firefly124



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Firefly
Genre: Crossover, Fix-It, Gen, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-08
Updated: 2011-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-14 14:01:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/149934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefly124/pseuds/firefly124
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River had a good feeling about this new passenger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sentientcitizen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentientcitizen/gifts).



River had a good feeling about this new passenger. The stories in her mind were amazing, even if most of them didn’t make any sense. How could she have been on Earth-that-was or traveled in what looked like more of a box than a ship? Maybe she was crazy too. It’d be nice having someone who understood what that was like. Things were better since Miranda, but people still looked at her funny sometimes.

“I don’t like it,” Jayne said, but then, he didn’t like knowing most of the women on board could have him hog-tied before he could say _go-se_ , and River was pretty sure this woman could do that too, even though she was dressed like Inara and looked just as beautiful.

Mal gave River _that_ look, and River nodded. Their new passenger passed inspection.

“Don’t much care what you like,” Mal said. “Doctor Song’s gold is good. Plus she ain’t got a herd of smelly cattle like the last transport. My apologies, Doctor Song, if we haven’t quite got the smell out yet.”

“Seems to me you’ve done a fine job.” The woman smiled broadly, then handed a slip of paper to River. “Long as you can get me to these coordinates without any Alliance … entanglements, I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”

The coordinates were simple enough. Well out on the Rim. And for some reason, they made River think of that box again.

“Avoiding Alliance entanglements is what we do best,” Mal said, and River winced at the lie.

“My brother’s a doctor,” River said, not entirely sure why she’d said it but certain this woman needed to know.

“Doctor Song’s a different kind of doctor,” Mal said. But that wasn’t the point at all.

“I’ll keep that in mind if I get sick,” Doctor Song replied with a wink.

A veil seemed to slip over the woman’s thoughts, and River wished she could teach the others how to do that, even though it meant she couldn’t see the stories anymore. The quiet was nice. With a nod, she turned and went to the bridge so she could set about plotting their course.

~*~

“What’s so special about Eva?” Zoe asked one night as she kept River company at the controls. She thinks River doesn’t know why she does it, thinks she can hide the sadness.

“Oldest planet in the ‘verse,” River answered.

“So some say.” Zoe made a show of checking some readouts that didn’t mean anything. “Only thing special about it is some writing folks have never been able to translate.”

“Until today.”

Zoe just gave River one of those looks, the kind that meant nobody understood. Except somehow River was sure Doctor Song would. Every so often the veil slipped, and River tasted her stories. They were sweet like hope.

“Be a shame when she leaves,” Zoe said with a sigh. “Last three jobs were a damned sight easier with her along, even if Jayne did nothing but complain about her.”

River bit her tongue until it hurt so she wouldn’t say what she wanted to. It couldn’t help. They were just stories after all.

~*~

“Thank you,” Doctor Song said as she picked up her bag. “It’s been an invigorating couple of weeks.”

“Your business going to keep you here long?” Mal asked. “Might could give you a ride to wherever you’re going next.”

“So long as I help with the next job?” Doctor Song smiled. “Sorry. Probably not.”

“Time can be rewritten,” River said.

Zoe shot her another one of those looks.

Doctor Song looked sad. “I’m sorry. I wish I could’ve come sooner, but … some events are fixed.”

River didn’t say anything to that. If even Doctor Song, with all those amazing stories in her mind, didn’t believe it was possible, then no one else was ever going to believe her.

Doctor Song turned and strode out of the ship to look up at the cliff. “Really? I couldn’t have been more original? Well, I suppose there’s something to be said for sticking with the classics.”

“When are you going?” River asked.

Doctor Song turned back and smiled. “Oh, you’re good. I knew I liked you, and not just for your name.”

She raised her hand and did something to the strap she wore on her wrist, and suddenly she just wasn’t there anymore.

“She’s a gorram witch!” Jayne shouted.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology appears to be magic,” River scoffed.

“The question is,” Mal said, “what she needed us for if she had sufficiently advanced technology all along.”

“She likes traveling,” River said. “And our ship had a doctor.”

Before anyone could ask stupid questions like why that mattered when she hadn’t been sick, there was a flash, and River was standing there again, wearing a fur coat and enough jewels to buy all the engine parts Kaylee could ever want.

“You came back,” River said.

“You were right,” Doctor Song replied. “Time can be rewritten. Care to try?”

With a grin, River ran out and grabbed her hand. “Nothing in the ‘verse could stop me.”

“River,” Mal called out in a warning voice. “What’re you doing?”

“Something I should’ve done in the first place,” Doctor Song replied. With that, she touched a series of buttons on her wrist, and River felt everything slip sideways.

~*~

There was a hand on her shoulder waking her gently. River cracked her eyes open and saw Zoe looking down at her.

River sat up so fast she almost bumped heads with Zoe, and she looked her up and down.

“You’re pregnant,” River announced.

“Good morning to you too,” Zoe replied with a confused smile. “Simon’s busy right now, so he asked me to come get you for breakfast.

Zoe was pregnant. She wasn’t sad. And if she was here with River, then …

“Who’s flying?”

“Wash is, honey.” Zoe sat down on the bed next to her. “This is gonna be one of those days, isn’t it.”

River wasn’t sure what that meant, but there were things that didn’t match up in her head. Not that that was new, but this time they were all sort of running together.

“Where’s River?” she demanded.

Now Zoe did look sad, but it wasn’t the same kind of bone-deep sad River had been expecting. Why was River expecting Zoe to be so sad? She was having a baby soon, and that was a happy thing for her and Wash. Even Simon was excited, getting to do something other than patch people up for a change.

“I think breakfast in bed sounds like a good idea today,” Zoe said.

“Nope!” River jumped out of bed and ran for the bridge.

Everything was right where it belonged when she got there. Wash gave her a startled look, then handed her one of his dinosaurs. He never minded when she was the one caught him playing with them.

This was good. It was always good when the bad dreams turned out to be dreams and the good dreams turned out to be not.

“Gonna help me land today?” he asked with a grin.

“Where are we landing?”

“Some old planet with mystery writing that nobody can read.”

“Hello, sweetie,” River said with a grin, then turned to run to the galley. It might still all be jumbled together, but if they were back at Eva, then she wanted to be fueled up and ready for anything. Time to make new stories.


End file.
